2 men shot, 1 fatally, outside DuSable H.S.

June 05, 2009

One 19-year-old man was killed and another 19-year-old man wounded outside the campus that houses DuSable Leadership Academy High School and two other other schools this afternoon on Chicago's South Side, authorities said.

Neither shooting victim was a student at any of the schools on campus, 4934 S. Wabash Ave., but they were dropping off a female student who attends one of the schools when they were shot, police said. That student was not hurt.

Once the victims dropped off the student about 12:20 p.m., a gunman approached the victims' car, police said. The gunman opened fire on the passenger, killing him.

He was identified as Lorenzo McKeithen, 20, of the 9200 block of South Harper Avenue according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

"The way he was shooting on the passenger's side, there was no way to survive that," said a witness, Gladys, 55, who declined to give her last name.

Police said the driver exited the car and tried to run away from the gunman. But the driver was still wounded by the gunman during a foot chase, just before the driver managed to seek refuge inside the schools' building, police said.

"He was really looking for someone to help him," Gladys added. "He was shot. He was hurt. He had blood everywhere."

Gladys' granddaughter, Shanique, 13, who attends one of the schools, was inside the building when the shooting occurred. "They were telling us there's been a shooting. We were on lockdown. It was terrifying. I was just scared. I just wanted to go home."

The driver was shot on the left side and was hospitalized in fair condition at Stroger Hospital this afternoon, according to a hospital spokesman. Police said they found McKeithen inside the vehicle, a blue Dodge Charger.

After the shooting the gunman got into and fled in a four-door silver vehicle with a sunroof, police said. The gunman is described as an African-American male, 16 to 18, between 5 feet 6 and 5 feet 9, and was last seen wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and dark jeans, police said.

Police said the shooting was believed to be gang-related, but could not elaborate.

Students were let out of school about 1:30 p.m. following the lockdown, which school officials said lasted an hour. They were dismissed through the block-long building's State Street entrances.